Category: Tech
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Shoe requiem (Altra King MT 1.0)
As with most things here, this isn’t really a proper review, though the first version of the King MT is still available if you wear a men’s 8, but a discussion of one thing as a salient example, of several trends playing out in the world of trail running and hiking shoes. The first thing…
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Now that’s a pack
Last year I wrote this, a rather grumpy paean on a favorite per peeve, backpack capacity. In the 15 months since the world has taken no visible notice, with perhaps one exception, and continued to undervalue the worth of a big ole pack bag, and overstated the capacity of said bag, often radically. The one…
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Loving and hating the puffy
To begin with, there is the issue of terminology; “puffy” being a plain dumb word, but it is how we refer to synthetic or down fill jackets these days, so so be it. As with most lexicological nits this one is seemingly benign, but it does promulgate a one-dimensional view of insulated jackets, a problem…
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Pack materials for 2018
This post and the follow-up a year later have remained among my most popular works, and with 2018 coming into focus they are at last worth updating. Not too much has changed in the world of backpack fabrics, but time has allowed for enough clarification that a few things are worth saying again. There are…
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Concerning pack weight
There remains some confusion about how to make a backpack lightweight, and yet still functional. The simplest and best way remains to raise your own bar; get better at packing, need fewer things, need lighter things, and so forth. But this can be a hard end to maintain, as I have recently been reminded, and…
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Black Diamond Mont Blanc gloves long term review
Much though I hate to admit it, you need gloves. I have good circulation and am well acquainted with just how cold I can get without it really being a problem, so I try to do without gloves as often as possible, but too often it is just too cold. Handwear comes with inherent dexterity…
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What makes a hardshell
To begin; I like the term hardshell far more than rain jacket, as it more fully encompasses the utility and meaning in question. Outdoor clothing is, or should be, part of a system, one that provides just enough protection from ambient conditions to keep you as warm as you want to be. Some clothing items…
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Quantifying the ideal ‘mid
Pyramid shelters have become inexorably associated with modern “ultralight” backcountry travel. For me they’re a staple, one I’ve discussed extensively (most recently and completely here), that for many conditions provides a light and simple no-thought solution to whatever weather might come along. That said, I do think the utility of mids has been overstated. Their…
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La Sportiva Trango TRK review
When you go hunting, particularly hunting in the snow, you need boots. The wet feet aren’t necessarily problematic, but wet feet mean cold feet when you stop to glass. Hunting also, generally, takes you off the trail and across ridges and sidehills while carrying a heavy pack. Most people want more shoe or boot in…
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Seek Outside Revolution review
For the two years that I’ve had it the Seek Outside Revolution frame has been absolutely indispensable. A solid, comfortable load hauling frame is very nice to have for hunting, and this fall I put it to particularly good use, but for family backpacking a true hauler has been something I cannot imagine us living…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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